Useful Searches

Whats the Deal with Elastix

So whats really going on with Elastix anyway?
0.9 was supposed to be a rock solid distro ready for production. While ready through the forums it looks like its very buggy and breaks often during upgrades.
So is it ready or do you need to be an Asterisk genius to keep it running. I really want to use it for my clients and it looks like I'm going to stay with TB and PBX-IN-A-FLASH for now.

I have tested since 0.9 was released and have had most of the issues other are speaking of in the forums.
Trust me I think Elastix is great and has the cleanest and most useful interface out there. But when you sell systems for a living you have to be able to load them up,configure it to meet the clients needs then walk away. There is no room to baby sit the system and when you see a lot of issues in the forums and they go unanswered for days or weeks that doesn't sit well with me. I have been dealing with flacky TB installs for a while now and just looking to switch to something that "just works". So my intent here is not to bash, maybe some users with success should post more in the success stories so we all get a feel good.

OK, I understand your frustration, however, this is Open Source code. Things happen, all situations are not the same, and errors are made. Elastix, to me, is much more stable than TB but on the other hand, Elastix is not owned by Fonality, is not setting up a mandatory minimum purchase in order to sell things, and because they do not have a company like Fonality kicking in bucks, I do not know what type of resources they have dedicated to correcting issues.

As far as baby sitting systems, I can tell you that when I worked for Cisco, we had sites that we had to babysit for a long time, so it is something that just comes with the business. If you are going to sell systems to Human beings, there are going to be problems.

My biggest suggestion is, if you are going to sell soemthing, do not over-sell it. Do not make promises that you cannot keep, and make sure the client understands what they are purchasing. But if you sell a product and tell them "it is just like a system from Avaya", then the expectation is to have the same type of service and support that Avaya gives (or doesn't in some cases).

0.8.4 and 0.8.5 were way more problem-free than 0.9.X.
I've been testing them for months and didn't have much problems.
Nearly everything was working as expexted.
But there is something wrong with zaptel , freepbx and fop in 0.9.X, and communication with Elastix crew has been quite poor.
Most or the problems have been solved by users, and this is quite frustrating.
Elastix is in a very delicate moment now, as 0.9 has many new features and upgrades, but some problems too.
If Palo Santo dedicated some more resources on making it more stable, having more feedback and also did some more testing before releases, Elastix could be one of the most used asterisk distros. This is what I think they are doing now.
But many users have had serious problems upgrading to and installing 0.9.X
This is not good at all for anyone: many users have more or less serious problems with their customers, Elastix user base decreases, and potential users avoid using it after having a look at the forums with many unanswered issues.
Maybe at a short term Palo Santo can raise their incomes with desperate people buying paid support, but at the long term it is much better to have a larger user base.
If you make a great, stable and free product, happy users grow exponentially. Internet can make it.
This would bring more users and developers to Elastix forums, so issues would be solved sooner too.
And what about sources? Are they published as fast as they should be?
This would make external developers to bring it on.
I hope Elastix will go in the right direction.<br><br>Post edited by: admin, at: 2008/02/26 08:30

I will chime in. I have been a Trixbox user for a few years. I really liked it and I learned alot from it, but I hated some things about it. I stumbled on elastix by mistake really, installed it and I love the interface.

I have to say it was a bit buggy and if I had no experience with it I would have been done with it the first day. There were alot of bugs, onces that could be corrected though but if I had no clue I would have had to abandon it.

I have it working but am always afraid to do any update or changes to it because I am afraid it will break. I installed a full backup system hoping it will work in that case.

It is open source and the whole idea is to get the community to fix the problems. So this is understood.

The main problem is as someone above stated, many questions go unanswered and unresolved, some are simple. Most of the questions I have asked go without any resolution and that is frustrating as these are phone systems and in most cases very important.

The community will help out but sometimes when a major feature is not working or broken the developers should chime in to help out.

Trixbox forums are answered with in minutes most times, I find myself going back to there forums to find answers for this product as I don't get my answers here.

I really, really, really like this product (elastix), but the user base cannot grow if the developers don't take the time to help fix the simple problems.

I really, really, really like this product (elastix), but the user base cannot grow if the developers don't take the time to help fix the simple problems.

Again my reply was not to bitch but to help. Thanks

Click to expand...

I'm in accord with this phrase... Elastix is one of the best distro but all the community need a bit more attention from the developer.
Some problems may be fixed by the users, but big ones needs a fast response from the developers...